


Learning to Speak

by mad_rawdogger



Category: Original Work
Genre: Café, Chicago, Coffee Shop, Hero Coffee Roasters, Marriage Proposal, Millennium Park, Minor Character Death, Non-binary character, Nonbinary Character, Original Characters - Freeform, Original Fiction, Other, Playwriting, Romance, play, plays
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-13
Updated: 2019-09-13
Packaged: 2020-10-17 21:10:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20627600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mad_rawdogger/pseuds/mad_rawdogger
Summary: Elliot needs to learn sign language so they can communicate with a mute friend of their cousin, but things don't turn out so simply





	Learning to Speak

** Scene 1 **

**INT.INSIDE OF _HERO COFFEE ROASTERS_-NIGHT  
ENTER: Frankie; Adam, Jenny, and Alice the Baristas, Elliot**

FRANKIE(signing)  
Hey Adam! Can I get  
my usual, please?

ADAM THE BARISTA(signing)  
No problem Frankie, anything  
else for today?

FRANKIE(signing)  
Nope! That’s it,  
thank you!

ADAM THE BARISTA  
(to Jenny and Alice the Baristas)  
Order up! We need a  
Frankie Regular!

JENNY AND ALICE THE BARISTAS  
(together)  
Got it, boss! One Manhattan Bagel  
Sandwich and a small vanilla latte  
for Frankie, comin’ up!

_Frankie then moves back outside and waits for their order. Next up in line is Elliot, who had been watching Frankie and the barista’s interaction with rapt attention, they had been looking for someone to teach them ASL for a while, and now they had possibly found someone. _  
Shaking their head after a moment, Elliot steps up to order, and afterwards they go outside to search for Frankie so they could perhaps strike up a conversation.  
Once outside, Elliot quickly finds them and walks over. Given the fact that Elliot knew a bit of ASL, they figured they could carry a semi-decent conversation with Frankie. Elliot goes up to them and taps them on the shoulder and smiles softly before beginning to sign to them.

ELLIOT WALKER  
(signing, tentatively)  
Hello, are you able  
to hear? I don’t know  
much sign language.

_Frankie shifts their eyes up to Elliot’s after they had finished signing and smiled, nodding to confirm that they can hear, holding their fist over their mouth for a few seconds, meaning ‘mute’. Elliot grins at this and begins to speak._

ELLIOT WALKER  
(joyfully)  
Oh good! I was afraid I  
wouldn’t be able to talk to  
you! My name is Elliot, and I  
saw you signing with the barista  
inside and I was wondering if you  
wouldn’t mind teaching me some words  
and phrases in sign language? My  
cousin has a friend who is deaf and  
I want to be able to communicate with  
them or even just understand them,  
make them feel welcome, you know?

_ Frankie laughs and nods once again. Pulling out their phone, they gesture towards Elliot, silently asking Elliot to give them their phone number, which they do.  
After getting their drinks Elliot and Frankie say goodnight and go back to their apartments, texting back and forth to decide a time and place to start Elliot’s ASL lessons. _

Scene 2  
**INT. ELLIOT’S APARTMENT-THE NEXT MONTH-NIGHT**  
ENTER: Elliot

_Elliot is sitting on their couch crying, staring at their cousin’s phone that was lying on the coffee table in front of them, and still trying to wrap their head around the fact that their beloved cousin was dead. _

ELLIOT  
(crying)  
It’d only been a week…how has it  
only been a week? James told me only  
one week ago that Emerson was…de-…dead.  
Found him in his bed. When the EMTs arrived  
they said that it had been a seizure of all  
things. A seizure! He showed no signs of  
having that condition. It runs in the family…  
we should have known. Should have tried harder.  
It doesn’t matter that his death was quick, or  
painless. He’s still dead.  
(laughing, humorlessly)  
And I got saddled with going through his  
phone to text all of his friends that he’s gone.  
Yay me. Why do I have to be so nice all the  
time? I could have said nothing. No one  
would blame me. My best friend had just died!  
But no, I had to volunteer. I just /had/ to  
take some of the work that needed to be done  
off of his family so they could have a little more  
room to grieve.  
(louder, yelling)  
Well, what about me?! Don’t I get to grieve?!  
  
As Elliot was scrolling through Emerson’s phone contacts and adding all those that they didn’t immediately recognize as family to a group message, they stumbled upon a familiar number.

ELLIOT  
(quietly, surprised)  
Frankie? What is Frankie’s number  
doing on his phone?

_  
It dawned upon Elliot that the friend of Emerson’s that they were learning sign language from Frankie to speak to was, in fact, Frankie themselves. Quickly bringing up Frankie’s number in Elliot’s own phone, they called them._

ELLIOT  
(hurriedly)  
Frankie! I need you to  
come to my apartment. Now.  
Don’t text me any questions,  
just come. It’s important.

Scene 3  
**INT. ELLIOT’S APARTMENT-LATER THAT NIGHT**  
ENTER: Frankie, Elliot

_Frankie had just arrived at Elliot’s apartment door and was panting heavily, having just run seven blocks to get there. Frankie knocked forcefully a few times before standing back and catching their breath._

_Elliot opened the door and quickly pulled Frankie inside and slammed the door behind them. Sitting Frankie down, Elliot started speaking almost incoherently as they were still crying heavily before Frankie put their hand on Elliot’s mouth and the other on their shoulder gently, looking them in the eyes deeply before signing slowly._

FRANKIE(signing)  
Elliot, you need to  
calm down and tell me  
what happened, whatever  
it is I can clearly tell  
that it is making you  
incredibly upset.  
Take your time, honey.

_When Frankie had finished signing they pulled Elliot into their arms and positioned them so that Frankie was sitting up stretched out on the couch and Elliot’s head was resting in their lap, playing with their hair while they calmed down enough to begin speaking again. Elliot took a deep and shuddering breath before beginning once again._

ELLIOT  
(tearfully, laughing)  
I found out today  
that you’re the mute  
friend my cousin has  
always been talking about.  
My cousin Emerson. You  
remember him, don’t you?

_Frankie nodded slowly with a confused expression on their face._

ELLIOT  
(laughing again)  
Apparently, you’re the friend  
that I’ve been learning sign  
language for. I came to you to  
teach me how to talk, to you!

_Elliot’s face crumples after this, letting out a loud sob before continuing wearily._

ELLIOT  
(expressionless)  
Emerson died a week  
ago. Seizure. It was  
some untreated condition  
that he unknowingly had.  
It runs in the family, but he  
never showed any signs,  
so we didn’t expect anything.  
(_a humorless laugh escapes them_)  
Until now, of course.

_Frankie looked down at Elliot with shock, horror quickly overtaking their face as they began to cry quietly, before curling into themselves and started to shake and sob violently.  
Elliot snapped out of their daze, pulling themselves out from underneath Frankie and quickly pulling them into a bone-crushing hug, rocking them back and forth and shushing them._

ELLIOT  
(shushing)  
Hey, hey we’re going  
to be okay, it’s okay  
baby. I’m here for you,  
I’ll always be here for  
you Frankie. We’ll get  
through this together.

Scene 4  
**INT.ELLIOT’S APARTMENT-MORNING**  
ENTER: Elliot, Frankie

_Elliot wakes up the next morning with Frankie curled up into them on the couch, snoring softly. Elliot gently pulls off Frankie’s glasses, having been smashed into their face while they were sleeping. Laughing softly, Elliot slowly untangles themselves from the heap of blankets and limbs and gets up to make breakfast for them both, knowing Frankie will be hungry when they wake up._

_Once the eggs were finished and plated, Elliot looked back to the couch at their now-stirring partner and let out a full belly-laugh at the look of sheer grogginess on Frankie’s face. After setting down their breakfast on the table, Elliot walked over to the couch and picked up Frankie in their arms bridal-style and kissed them fiercely before bringing them over to the table and setting them down on a chair in front of their plate. _

ELLIOT  
(merrily)  
Good morning  
gorgeous, how  
are we feeling  
today?

FRANKIE(signing)  
(tiredly, pointedly)  
I’m sore. We  
should have chosen  
a better sleeping  
position last night.

_Elliot’s smile slowly slips off their face as they remember why they fell asleep on the couch. Giving Frankie a thin smile, Elliot nodded and started to eat their breakfast. Frankie looked confused for a moment before tensing as they remembered as well.  
The rest of the meal was quiet after that._

Scene 5  
**EXT.MILLENIUM PARK-FIVE MONTHS LATER-SUNSET**  
ENTER: Elliot, Frankie

_ Elliot and Frankie hold hands and walk around the park, Elliot telling the worst puns imaginable, but they make Frankie laugh every time and Elliot wants nothing more in the world than to see Frankie carefree and happy. _

_ Elliot steered both of them over to the Cloud Gate until they were standing underneath it. Turning Frankie so that they were looking at them, Elliot took a deep breath and started signing._

ELLIOT(signing)  
(nervously laughs)  
I planned on doing this  
at the café where we  
met but I just can’t wait  
any longer. You are the  
most amazing person  
I have ever met and I  
am so lucky to be able  
to call you mine, and to  
be called yours. And I  
wouldn’t change that for  
the world, but the term ‘partner’  
just isn’t cutting it anymore.

_Elliot stops and gets down on one knee in front of Frankie, who has their hands over their mouth and is tearing up. Elliot takes a small box out of their pocket and opens it to show a beautiful ring inside._

ELLIOT  
So without any further  
ado at all, Frankie my  
love, will you make me  
the happiest person alive  
and marry me?

_ For a moment Frankie doesn’t do anything and just stands there before reaching their hand out and shakily signing ‘yes’ and throwing themselves into Elliot’s arms and laughing with pure joy as Elliot slips the ring onto their finger._

**Author's Note:**

> i would like to thank my friends Ella and Shay(@black-out-wonder) for helping me with this play! they both beta'ed for me, and Ella helped me with the nitty-gritty details of playwriting that i had absolutely no clue about  
this is my first play, and i wrote it in about a week with a very strict deadline under a lot of stress, so please be gentle  
never the less, i'm very proud of this and i love the stories, and i've fallen in love with the characters and their backgrounds!


End file.
